Oscar excited by busy Chelsea big-match schedule

First up on Saturday is a Barclays Premier League trip to Southampton before an FA Cup quarter-final replay against Manchester United on Easter Monday with Rubin Kazan visiting west London in the Europa League next Thursday and Sunderland to contend with three days later.

Oscar, 21, says it is normal to play several games in quick succession at a big club but admits this kind of fixture pile-up is new to him.

"There are so many games at the moment, and all of them are important," he said.

"We have Southampton first and then Manchester United 48 hours later. But that is the way it always is at a club like Chelsea. We always have a lot of games, though maybe four in a week - as we have this week - is a bit different."